Sergei Parajanov (1924-1990) - Armenian and Ukrainian film director, artist. Born in Tbilisi in antiquarian family. He worked as an artist-technologist in Tbilisi factory "Soviet Toys" (1941-1943). He studied in Tbilisi (1942-1945) and Moscow Conservatory; in the directing department of All-Union State Institute of Cinematography in workshop I. Savchenko (1946-1951). His international breakthrough came after Parajanov's film adaptation of novel Kotsyubinsky "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" (1964). He was arrested and sentenced to five years imprisonment (1973). In one of the colonies Parajanov opened a school of painting. In later life suffered constant persecution by the Soviet repressive agency. People's Artist of Ukraine(1990). Laureate of the Shevchenko State Prize posthumously (1991). He died in Yerevan.